Peter's wish to go out and live like a single guy again (thanks to Death) leads to an alternate reality where Lois is married to Quagmire and Peter is the husband of former Brat Pack star, Molly Ringwald.
Examples:
- Actor Allusion: The joke about Osama bin Laden being on MADtv (1995) which is why no one can find him also references a little-known role Alex Borstein (the voice of Lois) had before Family Guy — a cast member on MADtv.
- Alternate Timeline Ancestry: Peter accidentally changes the course of history when he goes back in time to blow off a date with Lois in order to go to a party with Cleveland, and ends up making out with Molly Ringwald. That action led to Quagmire consoling Lois and taking her out on a date, and the creation of a new timeline where Lois married Quagmire who fathered Meg, Chris, and Stewie, and who all share his nose, chin and libido.
- An Aesop: You never know what you have until it's gone. Peter learned that the hard way how his selfish and reckless actions have consequences that affect not only him, but also his loved ones and the world around him.Peter: I came back thinking I was missing something in my life, but what I almost missed was the best thing that's ever happened to me.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In a Back to the Future Part II reference, Brian explains to Peter what has changed after they had returned from the past.Brian: This line represents the normal flow of events. Here's where you met Lois, here's where you got married, and here's the present. And here's the night at the bar. Now, at some point during that evening, you did something that changed the course of your history, causing the time line to skew off into an alternate tangent, where you're married to Molly Ringwald, Quagmire's married to Lois, and for some reason, we have a chalkboard in the living room.
- Art Shift: The cutaway gag about The Jetsons is done in the show's original style.
- Bad Future: Ultimately subverted—while the changes in Peter (and Brian's) new life are certainly very extremenote , the good things ultimately outweigh the bad things. Brian even admits to Peter that him not marrying her was "the best thing that ever happened to the world." To name some of the good things in the new Alternate Timeline:
- Al Gore became President in 2000 instead of George Bush, and he killed Osama Bin Laden with his bare hands.
- There are flying cars that run on vegetable oil.
- With people being much more health-conscious and President Gore having implemented Universal Healthcare, people in the United States are living much longer.
- The United States also now has Zero Tolerance Gun Control and a much stronger/more well-funded educational system, which are at least two of the factors to the country now having hardly any street crime.
- Dick Cheney (who obviously didn't become Vice President in this timeline) simultaneously killed Justice Antonin Scalia, Karl Rove, and Tucker Carlson in a hunting accident.
- Bowdlerization: The following scenes were cut/edited when aired on FOX compared to the DVD and [adult swim] version:
- Brian's line to young Lois on FOX was "Can I WHAM! my Oingo Boingo into your Velvet Underground?"; on DVD and Adult Swim, it was "I would eat your poo"note .
- The scene of the 1980s collar guy challenging Brian to a fight cuts off before Brian can say anything in the FOX version; on DVD and Adult Swim, the 1980s collar guy says, "I will kick your ass anytime, anywhere." Brian suggests that the two fight on September 11th 2001, at 8:00 am on top of the World Trade Center.
- Quagmire's roleplaying game he plays with Lois on FOX is "Schoolgirl and Guy Who Has Sex with Schoolgirl"; on DVD and Adult Swim, it's "Hide and Go Anal."
- The parody of The Jetsons opening on the TV version (both FOX and [adult swim]) has George say, "Bull...crap" after Jane tries to explain that she's taking his entire wallet to buy groceries. On DVD, the line is "Bull...shit."
- During the dance on the FOX version, Lois asks what's poking her and Quagmire says, "It's just my wang." On [adult swim] and the DVD, he uses the more upfront word, "penis."
- Brick Joke: The Jetsons cutaway ends with the heavy implication that George is going to do something to Jane as payback for her trying to take his entire wallet to go shopping. Later, Peter and Brian are wondering how to get Death to send them back in time again so they can fix things, noting that it'll be much more difficult with the improved healthcare in the new timeline; on cue, Jane lands next to them, having been thrown out of the hovercar.
- Call-Forward: At the prom, Peter accidentally bumps into his enemy, Ernie the Giant Chicken. His friend next to him tells him to let it go and that he'll probably never see Peter again.
- The Cameo: In the final gag of the episode, Lois says she's thankful that everything is now back to normal... only for Roger from American Dad! to enter the living room asking who ate all the pecan sandies.
- Deconstruction: Of the opening sequence to The Jetsons, in which George gives Jane some money, only for her to take his entire wallet, leaving him dumbfounded. In this episode, George puts his foot down, grabs Jane before she can make off, and refuses to let her take his whole wallet just so she can go shopping. It is later shown that George dropped Jane to her death and flew off in his spaceship.
- Disney Villain Death: George Jetson throws Jane out of their vehicle to her death after she does the usual "take his whole wallet" bit.
- Domestic Abuse: Implied with The Jetsons parody, wherein George tries to stop Jane from taking his wallet to go shopping. As she tries to leave in her personal orbit vehicle, George grabs her by the wrist and yells at her for not taking the money he was allowing her, holding her wrist all the while. Moments later, as Peter is trying to summon Death, Jane crashes into the sidewalk below in front of him and Brian as the sound of George's flying car going by is heard.
- Grew a Spine: In the Jetsons Cutaway Gag, George puts his foot down and refuses to let Jane take his whole wallet like she usually does.
- It's All About Me: Peter does not care that virtually every aspect of life in the altered timeline is better for everybody, he wants Lois back. It doesn't matter that Lois is happy in this new timeline with a faithful Quagmire. He wants her to be happily married to him.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Molly Ringwald becomes this in the universe where she married Peter, looking about a decade older than her real age (39 in 2007). Judd Nelson also comes by and looks very decrepit for someone who wasn't even 50 yet.
- Rage Quit: Peter has Death send him back more than once when he does something to blow his chance with Lois at the pool. When he gets it right, but still goes to hang out with Cleveland, Death loses his patience when Peter calls him to fix things again.Death: (Appears) No! Y-you know what?! I'm not doing it again. Screw this! No more Mulligans! You're on your own! (disappears)
- Shout-Out:
- Cleveland is dressed in Michael Jackson's Thriller outfit.
- When a swimsuit-clad Lois enters the pool area, she's accompanied by "Mr. Night", which played in Caddyshack.
- The episode makes many, many references to Back to the Future:
- When Peter travels back in time to the 80s, he shares Doc Brown's incredulity that actor Ronald Reagan is the President — despite the fact that Peter should know this already because he's from the future and was alive when Reagan was in office.
- When Peter wakes up in the alternate future, Brian explains how Peter altered the timeline in much the same way Doc Brown explained it to Marty in the second film — even quoting Doc Brown directly (saying Peter's actions have caused them to "skew into a tangent").
- The entire scene at the party — with Brian filling in as the band's guitarist and playing "Earth Angel" while Peter punches out Quagmire for stealing Lois from him and kisses Lois to ensure that the future will come to pass as it should, Peter and Lois' kids reappearing in the photograph from which they'd been disappearing beforehand, and Brian following up his performance by leading the band in a song that won't exist for another few years (and a band member being revealed to be the original artist's cousin and informing him over the phone of said song) — are all lifted directly from the climax of the first movie.
- Take That!
- It is mentioned that Osama bin Laden was hiding within the cast of MADtv (1995), a jab at the show not being as prominent or popular as Saturday Night Live. The joke is
made funnier for two reasons: 1) MADtv got canceled in 2009 due to low ratings and FOX cutting the budget on late-night TV shows (at least until they brought in Animation Domination High Defnote ) and 2) Osama bin Laden was found and killed two years after MADtv ended.
Quagmire: Wow, the perfect hiding spot. The one place no one would look.- In the alternate reality, Peter and Brian decide that it's a Bad Future when they hear that Chevy Chase is the host of The Tonight Show.
- When Brian plays Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" at the party in 1984 — before the song was officially released — we get a band member making a familiar phone call:Hey Rick, it's your cousin Marvin. Marvin Astley! You know that generic, mediocre sound you been looking for? Well listen to this!
- When he comes to bring Peter back to the present, Death mirthfully informs Molly Ringwald that he'll be back for her career in a little while.
- It is mentioned that Osama bin Laden was hiding within the cast of MADtv (1995), a jab at the show not being as prominent or popular as Saturday Night Live. The joke is
- Tempting Fate: When Peter accidentally bumps into Ernie The Giant Chicken, another guy comes up to him and says:Random Guy: Whoa, whoa, big guy. You're probably never even gonna see him again.note
